008: The Man with the Golden Arm

Summary: In This Episode: I had heard about the man I’m going to tell you about several times over the past several years, but I didn’t know the whole story of “The Man with the Golden Arm”. It’s a bit of a medical mystery and, as I researched all of this to understand what the heck it was that he did, I discovered he started displaying Uncommon Sense even as a child.<br>
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Show Notes<br>
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My main sources: Wikipedia on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABO_blood_group_system">ABO blood</a> groupings, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rh_disease">HDN</a>, and on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rh_blood_group_system">Rh factors</a> and how they were discovered by Drs. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Landsteiner">Landsteiner</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_S._Wiener">Wiener</a>. <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1259627/Man-golden-arm-James-Harrison-saves-2million-babies-half-century-donating-rare-blood.html">London Daily Mail</a>. and <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/healthcare/final-donation-for-man-whose-blood-helped-save-2-4-million-babies-20180511-p4zerp.html">Sydney Morning Herald</a>.<br>
* There are a couple of diagrams in the transcript below.<br>
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Transcript<br>
I had heard about the man I’m going to tell you about several times over the past several years, but I didn’t know much about him. Odds are very high that you’ve at least heard about him — in part because he was in the news earlier this year. But even if you read those news stories, I’ll bet you don’t know the whole story of James Harrison, who has been called “The Man with the Golden Arm”. It’s a bit of a medical mystery and, as I researched all of this to understand what the heck it was that he did, I discovered Harrison started displaying Uncommon Sense even as a child.<br>
Welcome to Uncommon Sense, I’m Randy Cassingham.<br>
Do you know your blood type? There are four basic blood types, as discovered by Austrian physician, biologist, and immunologist Karl Landsteiner in 1900. The following is somewhat simplified, but you’ll get the idea.<br>
Type A blood has type A antigens surrounding its red blood cells. Antigens stimulate production of, or are recognized by, antibodies. So if you give someone with Type A blood a transfusion from a donor who is Type B, which has type B antigens, or vice versa, the two kinds of blood will essentially attack each other with antibodies carried in the plasma: Type B has anti-A antibodies, and Type A has anti-B antibodies. As you might guess, mixing the two is very bad: it causes a significant adverse reaction and, considering the person apparently needed blood in the first place, they’re probably quite injured or ill, so the reaction could kill them.<br>
As you’ve already guessed, the next blood type is B, which is essentially the opposite of Type A.<br>
There’s also type AB. It has both A and B antigens, but doesn’t have any A or B antibodies in its plasma, so if a person with AB blood needs a transfusion, they can safely accept Type AB, Type A, Type B, or even the last type, Type O, because it doesn’t have type A or type B antigens either.<br>
My blood type is O-positive. So what the heck is the “positive” part? That’s called the Rh factor, which was originally short for rhesus — a kind of monkey that has long been used for medical...